Working in the purchasing department of a large industrial company in the 1970s, they knew if they were unable to procure a replacement part quickly they might have to shut down the line. Back then, they could not count on delivery services to send a part the same day.

On a whim, the two decided to call other local companies to ask what they did when they needed same-day or next-day delivery of a machine part or raw materials.

Sure enough, many companies said they often couldn't obtain the materials they needed.

The results of the informal survey spurred Sauers and Lucey to leave their jobs and form their own expedited delivery service.

They started Exclusive Transportation for Industry, or ETI, in 1977 in Lucey's basement with one driver and two vans. In an age when phones were tethered to the wall, one of them had to man the desk around the clock.

"We moved anything that would fit into a van," Sauers said. "When we started, we were the only kids on the block."

Thirty years later, their Allentown company employs 85 drivers and has a fleet of 12 vans, six cars, and more than 50 leased tractor-trailers.

Working exclusively for companies, ETI picks up and delivers anything from compressor parts to transplant organs to vaccines. And they guarantee same-day arrival.

The company often works with national distributors that don't have local operations. For example, the company distributes frozen food for AIT Worldwide, a Chicago firm that delivers goods for eight out of the nation's top 10 food companies.

ETI, which employs 105 people, makes pick-ups and deliveries every day at shipping piers in Philadelphia and Newark, N.J., and the major airports in the New York area.

The company has expanded into warehousing because customers asked ETI to store their cargo. ETI sometimes ships items from its 24,000-square-foot warehouse directly to a customer's customer.

"Our goal is 100 percent satisfaction," Lucey said. "That does not leave any room for error."

The privately held company is profitable and has more than $10 million in annual sales, Sauers said.

ETI is located in a 26,000-square-foot facility in south Allentown that's double the size of its previous location. The building includes offices, a warehouse, a dispatch room and a loading dock.

The dispatch room is like the air traffic control center of an airport.

Dispatchers monitor the flow of deliveries 24 hours a day. The walls are covered with blue, white and orange order sheets. Blue is for ocean freight, white is for same-day delivery and orange is for smaller pick-ups. The tracking is color-coded rather than computerized so any worker can pick off where another dispatcher has left off.

The dispatchers spend most of their days on the phone with customers and drivers. One day last month, a dispatcher was on the phone with a driver. As he viewed an online map, he gave instructions to a driver, "The road becomes Reed. Come down South Parkway. You will cross over a traffic light."

The weather poses a constant challenge for ETI's dispatchers and drivers. Increased traffic on routes such as Interstate 78 is also a concern.

"Delays are killing this business," Sauers said.

The company's customers over the years read like a who's who in Lehigh Valley industry. The companies, some of which have left the area or downsized, include Mack Trucks, AT&T (and later Lucent Technologies), PPL and Ingersoll Rand, where the founders worked before starting ETI.

The delivery company has often played a key role at moments of critical transitions for its customers. For example, ETI said it made two runs a week between the Lehigh Valley and South Carolina when Mack Trucks of Allentown opened a plant down there. (That plant closed in 2002.)

The company also managed a trial customs office at Lehigh Valley International Airport in 1984, then known as the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Airport. ETI provided a bonded warehouse and took care of material handling during the trial of the inland port. The following year the airport received approval to open a permanent international port of entry.

Hamp Smith relies on ETI every day. As a traffic specialist at Bosch Rexroth in Bethlehem, Smith uses ETI to transport hydraulic parts. The company's Lehigh Valley plant makes hydraulic systems that can be used in various applications, including lifts used by construction workers. The company's parts are being used in a scissor lift that's parked outside of the Lehigh County Courthouse, which is undergoing a renovation.

"Most of the time, it's a rush," Smith said in a phone interview last week. "We have a two-hour window."

ETI takes care of much of the freight Bosch Rexroth ships through the piers in Philadelphia and Newark. The local plant is part of the international conglomerate Bosch Rexroth AG, which is based in Germany.